Synthesis of UV active 2-methylisoborneol for water pollutant detection

2-Methylisoborneol and geosmin are metabolites of blue-green algae actinomycete bacteria or fungi. They are the main reason for unpleasant smell in public water supplies and certain fish. As the odor threshold is as low as 10 ng/L (ppt), it is necessary to detect them from public drinking water supplies. Since traditional detection technology needs sample extraction or critical condition for assay, they are not able to give specific and fast detection. In this report we synthesized 2-MIB from camphor with chiral structures and attached the UV active group which enables UV detection. Using these modified chemical structures, a biosensor system will be applied and developed for high throughput detection of water pollutants directly from tap water with specificity. Moreover, this novel detection system could be applied to the universal detection of water pollutant with high sensitivity. © 2009 The Korean Society of Environmental Risk Assessment and Health Science and Springer.